The aerox landfill concept: test cell results suggest greater sustainability in landfill practices

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills worldwide are experiencing the consequences of conventional landfilling techniques, whereby anaerobic conditions are created within the landfilled waste. Under anaerobic conditions, slow stabilization of the waste mass occurs, producing methane (an explosive, 'greenhouse' gas) and toxic leachate over long periods of time. In attempts to reduce the production of this leachate, composite soil cap systems are constructed over landfilled waste. As a potential solution to the risks associated with landfill sites, it has been demonstrated that the 'aerobic' degradation of MSW within a landfill can significantly increase the rate of waste decomposition and settlement, decrease the production of methane gas, reduce the level of toxic organics in the leachate and decrease the quantities of landfill leachate requiring treatment. Readily integrated into the landfill infrastructure, this approach can safely and cost-effectively convert a MSW landfill from anaerobic to aerobic degradation processes, thereby effectively composting much of the organic portion of the waste (the polluting element of a landfill site). [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]